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About Road Ends

He listened as their voices faded into the rumble of the falls. He was thinking about the lynx. The way it had looked at him, acknowledging his existence, then passing out of his life like smoke. . . It was the first thing—the only thing—that had managed, if only for a moment, to displace from his mind the image of the child. He had carried that image with him for a year now, and it had been a weight so great that sometimes he could hardly stand.

Mary Lawson’s beloved novels, Crow Lake and The Other Side of the Bridge, have delighted legions of readers around the world. The fictional, northern Ontario town of Struan, buried in the winter snows, is the vivid backdrop to her breathtaking new novel. Roads End brings us a family unravelling in the aftermath of tragedy: Edward Cartwright, struggling to escape the legacy of a violent past; Emily, his wife, cloistered in her room with yet another new baby, increasingly unaware of events outside the bedroom door; Tom, their eldest son, twenty-five years old but home again, unable to come to terms with the death of a friend; and capable, formidable Megan, the sole daughter in a household of eight sons, who for years held the family together but has finally broken free and gone to England, to try to make a life of her own. Roads End is Mary Lawson at her best. In this masterful, enthralling, tender novel, which ranges from the Ontario silver rush of the early 1900s to swinging London in the 1960s, she gently reveals the intricacies and anguish of family life, the push and pull of responsibility and individual desire, the way we can face tragedy, and in time, hope to start again.

About Road Ends

From an acclaimed writer whose work invites comparisons to Elizabeth Strout, Rick Bass, and Richard Ford comes a brilliantly layered novel about self-sacrifice, family relationships, and the weight of our responsibility to those we love.

The New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Crow Lake and The Other Side of the Bridge returns with a brilliantly layered novel about self-sacrifice, family relationships, and the weight of our responsibility to those we love.

Twenty-one-year-old Megan Cartwright has never been outside Struan, Ontario, a small town of deep woods and forbidding winters. The second oldest in a house with seven brothers, Megan is the caregiver, housekeeper, and linchpin of the family, but the day comes when she decides it’s time she had a life of her own. Leaving everything behind, Megan sets out for London.

In the wake of her absence, her family begins to unravel. Megan’s parents and brothers withdraw from one another, leading emotionally isolated lives while still under the same roof. Her oldest brother, Tom, reeling from the death of his best friend, rejects a promising future to move back home. Emily, her mother, rarely leaves the room where she dreamily dotes on her newborn son, while Megan’s four-year-old brother, Adam, is desperate for warmth and attention. And as time passes, Megan’s father, Edward, stubbornly refuses to acknowledge that his household is coming undone. Torn between her independence and family ties, Megan must make an impossible choice.

Nuanced, compelling, and searingly honest, Road Ends illuminates how we each make peace with the demands of love. Mary Lawson delivers compassion and heartbreak in equal measure in her most stunning novel to date.

Praise for Road Ends “Mary Lawson’s story of a dysfunctional family in a northern Ontario logging town is told in scenes that are as palpably tender and surprising as they are quietly disturbing. . . . [Lawson] has an uncanny talent for evoking the textures of her characters’ moods while moving them unsentimentally through London and Struan.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Like all great writers—and Lawson is among the finest—she tells her story in a deceptively simple and straightforward way, but one that resonates with anyone who has ever struggled with doing the right thing by a family member despite a desperate longing to escape that burden.”—The Star “[Lawson] can justifiably lay claim to an oeuvre as well as a personal geography. If the part of Ontario west of Toronto is Munro country, then the area northwest of New Liskeard and Cobalt—where her fictional towns of Struan and Crow Lake are roughly located—may well end up being dubbed Lawson Country.”—National Post “A beautiful novel, with the psychological twists and turns of each character gently and poignantly unfurled.”—The Globe and Mail

About Mary Lawson

Mary Lawson was born and brought up in a small farming community in Ontario. She is the author of two previous novels, Crow Lake and The Other Side of the Bridge, both international bestsellers. Crow Lake was a New York… More about Mary Lawson

About Mary Lawson

Mary Lawson was born and brought up in a small farming community in Ontario. She is the author of two previous novels, Crow Lake and The Other Side of the Bridge, both international bestsellers. Crow Lake was a New York… More about Mary Lawson

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Praise

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

“The frozen landscape, which might fill some with dread, opens a rich world for Lawson…. It is a beautiful novel, with the psychological twists and turns of each character gently and poignantly unfurled.” —Sarah Hampson, The Globe and Mail

“Every Canadian student should be reading Mary Lawson novels—starting with Crow Lake and now including her newest accomplishment, Road Ends…. Like all great writers—and Lawson is among the finest—she tells her story in a deceptively simple and straightforward way, but one that resonates with anyone who has ever struggled with doing the right thing by a family member despite a desperate longing to escape that burden. She humanizes even the least sympathetic of her charges.” —Laura Eggertson, Toronto Star

“Mary Lawson finds literary gold in the hard landscape of the Canadian Shield.” —Ottawa Citizen

“What sets Lawson apart is storytelling so matter-of-fact (in the best possible way) that readers are able to feel the emotional intensity of the characters’ situations without succumbing to moroseness…. The same easy grace and economy of language that drew readers into [Lawson’s] earlier stories are employed to full effect, and the setting, along with the welcome reappearance of a few familiar characters, imparts a sense of homecoming…. Complex and satisfying.” —Dory Cerny, Quill & Quire

“If the part of Ontario west of Toronto is Munro country, then the area northwest of New Liskeard and Cobalt—where [Mary Lawson’s] fictional towns of Struan and Crow Lake are roughly located—may well end up being dubbed Lawson Country.” —Emily Donaldson, National Post